Listening to Jeff’s chat with the bard, the kid widened his eyes. Clearly, he’s shocked by this ‘surprising’ result. 

These two lowly adventurers… dared to defy his commands? 

The disbelief and shock quickly subsided. Then it’s a tide of anger crushing in. 

The brat’s face reddened up. “Are you refusing me? You dare to say no, to me?!”

“Which rock gave birth to this idiot?” The bard threw a calamari into his mouth. 

“No idea.” Jeff shrugged. “But this kid might have brain damage. So let’s not be too critical of him.”

The brat took a look behind himself. His group of 20 bodyguards were still there. Turning back to Jeff and the bard, the brat looked confident again. 

“Are you looking down on us, the Precious Horse group.” The brat menacingly squinted. “Do you know who you are messing with. We are the rank 250 in this city!”

After saying these words, the brat maliciously smiled. He probably expected some shocked or scared looks on the faces of these two adventurers. 

“Sure.” Jeff shrugged. 

Maybe he’d be concerned if this was three years ago. But now? Meh. 

“Wow. 250th.” The bard exaggeratedly widened his eyes. 

“Yeah!”

“By your demeanor, I thought you’d be the 25th merchant’s company.” The bard dropped the act and shrugged. 

“You…” The brat gritted his teeth. Opening his hand, a fencing saber popped into his hands. “You’ll pay for your ignorance.”

Jeff raised a brow at the kid. The butler was an elite mid-tier. But the rest of them? Mere early-tiers. 

Even without toggling on any abilities, Jeff doubted that these guys could last 3 seconds when facing him. 

“Well. I guess I don’t mind some after meal exercise.” The bard grabbed his green hat off the table and put it on. As the bard stood up, a wooden staff popped into his hand. 

As an elite mid-tier, this bard looked rather confident in his own battle prowess. 

Seeing the bard’s careless reaction, the merchant kid clenched onto his fencing saber. The kid pointed his saber at the bard. Yet, this teen looked hesitant in initiating the attack. 

The bard did not cower from his threat. This teenager looked uncertain of what to do next. 

Jeff took a look at the mid-tier butler. Standing half a step behind this teen, the young fella sighed in powerlessness. At this moment, this guy didn’t look like a bodyguard or a butler, but more like a tired babysitter. 

“G-Get them!” The teenager waved his hand forward. He’d finally remembered that he had bodyguards. 

“Yes young master!”

“As you wish!”

Those adventurers charged forward with their weapons drawn. All of these guys looked eager to impress that kid. 

Wearing a smirk, the bard pointed his staff forward. Before his staff, a green magic formation quickly expanded out. 

Yet, right before the two parties clashed, a red formation instantly appeared on the deck. Red circuits forming intricate patterns. Runic characters big and small scattered around the formation. One after another, daggers made out of red light condensed into existence. 

In a blink, the air was suddenly packed by hundreds of these red daggers. Pointing their edges at the adventurers on the deck, these daggers looked like they were ready to shoot forward. 

Without doubt, this defense mechanism was reserved for pirates and invaders. Yet, now, it’s been activated against the passengers. 

“Youngsters nowadays.” Someone tiredly sighed under the raised platform. 

*Thump Thump Thump*

A mid-aged fisherman walked up the platform. This guy was wearing a white T-shirt and navy blue overalls. 

Looking at this mid-aged dude, Jeff raised a brow. He didn’t see a door when he got on this ship. Yet, clearly, there’s a room below this platform. 

‘Secret entrance. Defensive magic formation. Oi oi. Is this really necessary?’ Jeff’s cheek twitched a little. 

“So hot tempered.” The fisherman yawned and stretched. However, seeing that his investment had successfully halted the adventurers, this mid-aged dude looked a little proud. 

“If you guys want to settle your dispute, could you guys please at least fight at the dock?” The fisherman put on a displeased look. “I mean, this is my livelihood after all. Please do be more considerate.”

“Or what?” The merchant brat raised his chin. There’s a hundred blades pointing towards this kid. Yet, the kid looked rather relaxed. Clearly, he didn’t believe that the fisherman would actually dare to initiate the attack. 

“Or what?” The fisherman thought for a quick moment. He realized this point as well. 

“Or… I’ll have to throw you people off the boat.” The fisherman looked at the river. 

“Except that mage right there. He seems calm enough to not to destroy my boat.”

“Are you threatening me. Who do you think you are.” The brat grumbled. “Do you know who I am?”

“Who do I think I am.” The fisherman leaned back and shrugged. “Just a random old dude working for the Adventurer’s Hall. If you want to pick a fight with hall, you can try me boy.”

Seeing the fisherman’s careless and confident demeanor, the brat gritted his teeth in rage. 

“Alright. Alright.” The butler politely smiled. “This is your boat. We’ll play by your rules.”

“Hmm… Good.” The fisherman clapped. The formation died off. The red blades in the air dissipated into red pixels. 

“Tsk.” The bard popped away his staff and sat down again. 

The brat angrily sat onto a chair and crossed his arms. Clearly, he couldn’t understand how things became this way. It’s as if this guy had never met a bigger setback before in his life. It looked like this kid needed some time to accept what he’d just experienced. 

There’s only three tables up on the back platform. The rest of the bodyguards went back down to the front deck. 

Pam! 

The brat punched the table. 

“Just you two wait.” The brat maliciously stared in Jeff’s direction. 

Hearing this threat, Jeff nodded and smiled back. The bard carelessly shrugged. 

Just this moment, the sound of a blaring horn echoed down the river.